Why We Need Unpopular Opinions // Monday Musings

Hello bookworms and welcome back! It’s Monday, meaning it is time for the one and only Monday Musings, a weekly feature here on Josie’s Book Corner where I address and discuss all my thoughts on all topics unrelated to reading – because why not show a little bit of blogging diversity, you know?

This week, I’ll be discussing a topic that can be related to many aspects of life – of course, for all of my blogging buddies, you’ll be able to relate to this on a blogging perspective, while others will also be able to relate, just on different subjects. OKAY, I’M BABBLING.

Unpopular opinions. Perhaps also known as negative opinions. The side of the argument with the least amount of people. These unpopular opinions are everywhere and pop up amidst the waves of raving and carrying on. There is always going to be a negative review for a certain book and there is always going to be at least one blog that will share their unpopular opinion, whether it’s about a book everyone loves, or some other topic of choice. They’re a bit more uncomfortable to hear, a little harder to swallow, but you know what? They’re NECESSARY. In fact, we NEED them.

Why? Well, let’s discuss then, shall we?

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING CAN SOMETIMES BE A BAD THING

Not everything is sunshine and rainbows. We need people who will spare us the sugar-coated words and give us the hard truths. Even I can admit that I tend to sugar-coat my book reviews – having the habit of lightly skipping over the parts of a book that I thought weren’t that great, but then really emphasising the greatness of the good stuff in a book. We need those people who stand out from the crowd and are not afraid to speak out and discuss in detail the things that others may have only skipped over in the light of all the good things – imagine if everyone in the world just swept all serious issues under the rug. Okay, maybe it’ll work out all right for the first few months or so, but eventually, it all piles up and you don’t realise how much bad stuff you and everyone else is ignoring: it’s sort of like book hype, if you get my drift. (I hope someone does!)

IT GIVES US A NEW PERSPECTIVE

Personally, I love reading about unpopular opinions – in regards to any and all topics. I love seeing the less travelled road and I love delving into the minds of those who think differently from the rest of the crowd. It’s fascinating and it can really open your eyes – open your eyes to the deeper, more complex elements of any topic, such as a novel that you may have missed in your frenzy of feels over how great the book was. Reading unpopular opinions takes you down a new road, a different road. A road that is fresh to you and this, brings along a new perspective into your life. It’s always good to see things from more than one angle.

A BALANCE IN THE FORCE

Balance is key – without balance you can’t stand up straight. If you don’t have all one of your variables controlled in a science experiment, it won’t be fair. The same goes for opinions. There needs to be a balance of the good and the bad opinions. Granted, it’s lovely to know that so many people are like-minded to you, but it gets a little boring if everyone thinks the same way. Which leads me to my next point – BOOM, GREAT TRANSITION

IT GIVES US A CHALLENGE

I don’t know about you, but I like a little bit of challenge – and with unpopular opinions, your mind will be whirring and working to try and understand their side of the argument and how you can justify your own opinion in the process. You’re forced to take a more elaborate look on your opinion and your views and on theirs and explain yourself – and in the process, you’ll learn something new, a new perspective.

Well bookworms – and non-bookworms –, it is about time that I wrap this post up. Unpopular opinions are cool, and shouldn’t be looked down upon. Just because there may be less in this group than in the more popular, positive responses, does not mean there is anything wrong with it.

39 thoughts on “Why We Need Unpopular Opinions // Monday Musings”

I’m so glad you decided to put into words a thought process I (and many others, I’m sure) have had when deciding whether to give the nitty gritty review of a book, or gloss over the less than favorable aspects. Very well thought out!

Yessss thanks for the encouragement Josie, it’s posts like this that make my negative opinions on popular books not look so bad! I completely agree, I sometimes look to negative reviews for encouragement of my own thoughts and it gives you a different perspective.

Yes! Unpopular opinions are great. They provide a larger spectrum of opinons on the book. Each person has read the book differently and I think its important to acknowledge every point of view. Sometimes, when I read unpopular opinions, I begin to see cracks and flaws in books that I’ve never seen before and sometimes thats a good thing!

It’s very important to acknowledge their views – because if we exclude one person’s opinion just because it is different from the rest, we’d be defeating the purpose of our freedom of speech!
That’s very true, unpopular opinions are eye-openers in a way.

I love unpopular opinions! They are always just so much fun to read about and I love the fact that you can see something from a completely different perspective. Even when I review the books I quite enjoy, I always make sure to point out the negative aspects as there is always room for improvement 😂 Great post Josie ❤️

It’s also kind of fun disagreeing with someone. It makes for some great debates about why you loved it while the other person is explaining why they didn’t like it. It’s interesting a lot of the time how someone will tell you exactly why they didn’t like a part. it makes you really think and try to be more critical sometimes. Nice topic!

I definitely think unpopular opinions are necessary! Today I read a review for Illuminae that pointed out the issues the reader had with it and I found that really intriguing as I’d only ever seen good reviews for it! I enjoy reading unpopular opinions as it gives me a different perspective on books that I’d only heard amazing things about. It also helps me go into a book with expectations that aren’t too high! ;D

Glad you also think so! I also read a more negative review of Illuminae a while back, and while I haven’t read the book, I have seen so many reviews where people LOVED it – so it was awesome to see the other side of the story, and I made me realise that the book wasn’t for me.
Ah yes, unpopular opinions are great to bring down book hype!

I totally agree with you! Unpopular opinions are necessary in the book community especially for reader like me. Because before picking a book, I always search for its negative reviews first and then after that I’d go for positive reviews. Basing on both reviews I finally decide whether I should read it or not. Great Post! 😀

I find it quite sad when people start to hate on negative/unpopular opinions. I mean, we are all different people, you can’t expect everyone in the world to agree to the same thing – the same goes for books and such: we can’t all enjoy or experience a book the same way. Everyone’s opinions are valid, popular or not!

Unpopular opinions in the book community are my favorites. I watch all the videos and read all the blog posts, I just think they’re so hilarious and interesting. More often than not I’ll agree with their opinion, the only time I’m like “how dare you!” is if someone says they hated Harry Potter hahahaha. I also love reading DNF and one star reviews even if I’ve never heard of the book.

If someone shares an unpopular opinion about my favourite series – such as Throne of Glass, or Lord of the Rings, or Eragon – I may just gasp in shock and horror, hehe. Like, HOW CAN YOU NOT LIKE IT?! But then again, everyone experiences a book differently!

I’ve never read Lord of the Rings but I don’t really like the movies haha whoops. And I just posted a two star review of Throne of Glass yesterday hahaha. I started reading Eragon when I was around 15 but only got halfway through it, maybe I should try it again sometime hmm.

I totally agree. I think that it’s good for us to look outside of our own perspective every once and a while. It’s all about how to unpopular opinion is stated though. It’s all about being in opposition but still kind.

Yes indeed, Lydia! I can’t stand when people write their unpopular opinions in an offensive way – like, there is NO NEED to attack the author or the book so dramatically, and no need for harmful words. Constructive criticism is good I suppose?

YES PREACH. I used to be so bad about reviews, I would let my emotions take over and sort of forgive and glaze over the bad stuff because I wanted to be part of the popular opinioness. No longer! In fact, I’m actually having fun writing negative reviews because I’m a heartless little potato. Sometimes it’s entertaining to just make fun of a book…okay I’m terrible.

I definitely believe that unpopular opinions do more good then bad. I loved the Unpopular opinions tag and seeing everyone’s diverse view on different books. It really refreshing and they shouldn’t be shouted down by all of the popular opinions.